Middle Ages Rolls

In the Middle Ages, rolls weren't food, although they were the meat and drink of legal documents. They were essentially registers of court decisions, and came in many different types, with different uses. For genealogists they're another way - sometimes the main way - to not only get an insight into the life of the times, but also to trace back ancestors in a time when record keeping could be a very patchy art.

Patent Rolls

These came out of the Chancery court, covering a varying range of topics, from grants to individuals and others regarding the right to use land to keeping the peace and jail delivery. Patent here means unsealed, and so available to all. They can be found in published form in many larger libraries, collected in well over 60 volumes covering the period 1216-1587. You should be aware, however, that the old Palatines of Chester and Lancaster had their own Courts of Chancery, and so aren't in the main volumes.

Close Rolls

At the other end of the spectrum are the close or sealed rolls, which dealt with more personal legal issues, such as will, deeds, leases and even changes of name. Those from 1205-1903 are in the National Archives, and the Medieval period has mostly been published. These rolls are probably most useful for deeds of sale.

Fine Rolls

The fines here weren't imposed for wrongdoing, but as payment to receive privileges, such as inheriting land or a royal pardon. These date back further than any of the other rolls, or indeed most documents, going back to 1120, and running until 1649. An excellent resource, and if anything can take you all the way back to just after the Norman Conquest, this can. Most of these rolls have been published.

Charter Rolls

These are similar to the patent rolls, except they deal solely with grants of land or privileges to organisations, rather than individuals. Once again they're in the National Archives, although after 1517 they merged with the Patent rolls.

Hundreds Rolls

The Hundreds Rolls (a hundred was an area of land) detail official enquiries into the rights and properties of the Crown, and many other (privileged) people are named in individual documents. Some are more useful than others (for instance, the 1279 returns relating to properties in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Leicestershire, Oxfordshire Suffolk and Warwickshire list all the tenants of a property, right down to the serfs, making them very useful if you can trace back far enough in those areas.

Curia Regis Rolls

These rolls detail the cases heard before the King's Bench and the Court of Common Pleas, and to establish the rights of the plaintiffs they contain many pedigrees - which means they're an invaluable source if your ancestor is listed. You can find them in the National Archives going from 1195-1242, and from 1273-1875.

Deeds

Many hundreds, even thousands of deeds can be found in local record collections. These are deeds of all kinds, from land transfer to bonds and money lending. Finding one that you need is good fortune, but being able to make good use of it is skill, as they are typically undated, even if the information they contain is like gold. If you come across one you can use, you might be well advised to take it to an expert for further guidance.